More Mix and Match by Ben Norton

A: ♦6. With a choice between the red suits, you should choose a Diamond for two reasons. Your Diamonds are slightly better than your Hearts, in that your Ten can be used to pick up an honor on you right, and you’ve already shown Hearts in the bidding, yet the opponents have still chosen to play 3NT. West is ready for a Heart lead, but your opponents might not be so well prepared for a Diamond attack.

In terms of which Diamond to lead, the Jack could be right when partner has a miracle entry and declarer has a holding like K Q 9 or H 9 x opposite H x in dummy. However, that’s very unlikely. You have almost all the defensive strength and will likely need to keep leading the suit from your side of the table, which suggests kicking off with a low one, to start unblocking the suit when partner has 9 x or an unlikely H x.

Your result so far:

A: ♣4. Once again you intervened in the auction, showing Hearts, but your opponents have landed in 3NT. This time a Heart lead almost definitely won’t work. Partner had the opportunity to Double 3♥ for the lead, but didn’t. What’s more you have a weak hand and can’t be sure to get in again, so even if you can set up your Hearts, which is unlikely, you probably won’t be able to cash them. Most of the time you’ll just give away a trick or a tempo by leading a Heart.

You do best to try and find partner’s long suit, since he’s the one with the entries. A Spade from J x might work, but partner had a chance to mention those if he had a good five-card suit, plus the Jack might just blow the suit. A better shot is a Club. You’re more likely to hit partner with a good five-card suit there than in Spades, especially considering that East will have Spade length a lot of the time for his re-opening Double, while also holding a Heart stopper.

Your result so far:

A: ♦K. This is a tad speculative, but the strong hand is known to be on your left and your ♥K x x doesn’t bode well for the defense, meaning that the Hearts will probably come in for declarer. Therefore you need to be active. Leading the ♣A will give away a trick too often, as will a trump from J 9 doubleton when partner has an honor. The ♦K also carries risks, but the reward when it’s right is going to be greater than the reward when either black suit lead is working. If partner has the Ace you can probably take a ruff or trump promotion for a quick set, and if partner has the Queen you’ll be setting up a trick and possibly an entry for partner to lead a Club through. Overall, Diamonds is going to be the best source of tricks for the defense.

You expect the ♦A to be on your left, so leading the suit won’t give anything away too often. Even if declarer has the Ace and dummy the Queen, partner might still have a trick on the third round of the suit. Trying a sneaky ♦10 might work from time to time, but will give up on creating an entry to partner’s hand and the ruff when he has the Ace and may well mislead partner. The ♦K is best.

Your result so far:

A: ♣10. Looking at your distribution, partner, who is known to have Diamonds already (with Hearts and Clubs he would have bid 5♥ over 5♦), rates to have both minors. Therefore declarer’s source of tricks (he likely has one to compete to the five-level) will be Hearts, and once he knocks out your ♥A he’ll have some discards to take.

You must strive to set up some tricks while you still have control of the Heart suit. You have better chances of scoring Club tricks than Diamonds, given you have fewer Clubs than Diamonds, so you should try the ♣10. Leading a Diamond might strike partner with the Ace, but then he may not be able to attack Clubs effectively from his side, if he has say the ♣K over dummy’s Ace or the ♣K J over dummy’s Queen, and the tempo will have been lost. If it turns out that partner actually has the red suits and you had three tricks to cash which go away on a Club lead, you’ll have been unlucky.

Your result so far:

A: ♣A. It often pays to be active when leading against a major suit game when they’re known to have a nine-card fit. A Heart lead will either reveal the position to declarer or blow a tempo, since looking at the strength of your hand partner can hardly have what’s needed to give you a ruff (♥A Q, ♥K and ♠A), and if he does you’re beating the contract anyway. Try the ♣A. You might be able to take a ruff or perhaps get partner in to lead a Diamond through declarer’s King. Leading the ♣A won’t often give away a trick since it’s in a short holding anyway, and it has a much bigger upside than the ♦A, which will just gift declarer a cheap trick if he has the ♦K.

Your result so far: